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Additional Funding Sources

Project support was provided by the NSF Idaho EPSCoR Program and by the National Science Foundation under award number IIA-1301792 and the College of Western Idaho.

Abstract

As Monarch Butterfly (Danuas plexippus) populations decrease, habitat restoration has become a concern. To restore habitat new populations of Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) will need to be planted. Areas may lack local, new propagules and using non-native A. speciosa in the effort to restore habitat may have detrimental effects. Non-native individuals could have poorly adapted genes for the area and hybridize with native populations creating negative effects. Here, we seek to determine the extent of putative adaptive traits among seedlings from 35 populations of A. speciosa that originate from eight provisional seed zones across the Intermountain West. We germinated seeds, propagated seedlings in a greenhouse and recorded phenotypic characteristics, survival, and germination. Adaptive traits were correlated (linear regressions) to elevation and climate variation. Trait variations were detected using ANOVAs. Here we present the results of our analyses and their implications for defining Showy Milkweed seed transfer zones in the context of monarch butterfly habitat restoration.

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Milkweed Common Garden

As Monarch Butterfly (Danuas plexippus) populations decrease, habitat restoration has become a concern. To restore habitat new populations of Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) will need to be planted. Areas may lack local, new propagules and using non-native A. speciosa in the effort to restore habitat may have detrimental effects. Non-native individuals could have poorly adapted genes for the area and hybridize with native populations creating negative effects. Here, we seek to determine the extent of putative adaptive traits among seedlings from 35 populations of A. speciosa that originate from eight provisional seed zones across the Intermountain West. We germinated seeds, propagated seedlings in a greenhouse and recorded phenotypic characteristics, survival, and germination. Adaptive traits were correlated (linear regressions) to elevation and climate variation. Trait variations were detected using ANOVAs. Here we present the results of our analyses and their implications for defining Showy Milkweed seed transfer zones in the context of monarch butterfly habitat restoration.